Partners Are For Punishment
by BettyHanna124
Summary: Full Summary inside. This is about Stein and a OC. This takes place before series. Stein has a new partner that is much younger than him. They then develop a relationship through the madness they both share. Stein begins to feel something for his new partner. His partner then begins to become engulfed in the madness her mother has plagued her with. not the conventional love story.
1. Chapter 1

Hi, I'd just like to say, there are images of the character on my page. Please go in my page to see who she looks like.

Summary:

Scarlett is Medusa's daughter, but when Scarlett gets killed, Medusa takes her soul and exchanges it with another girl's. But Medusa has to leave her daughter at the academy, and so Scarlett grows up there, but her witch powers and memories were not restored. She begins to go to the academy and after Stein gets her reassigned as his partner things go quite strangely. This is the story about how both of them begin to become engulfed in their own darkness. Yet they find each other and are soon together. I am sorry, but I had to delete Marie from the story, I really do like her and what not, but for this to work I had to cut her. I may do a story about her and Stein later though. Oh and may contain intense or sexual moments. Hope you like my story!

Prologue (YOU SHOULD READ THIS, IT HAS IMPORTAT INFO)

"Mother, what do you propose we do with them, for I do not take trespassers lightly." Scarlett said as she looked upon the meister and weapon before her. "Yes, they are deserving of the depths of hell for even thinking they could take our souls, but I am too tired to deal with such weak opponents." Medusa answered with a bit of a nasty hiss in her voice. "Yes, weaklings, leave us be. Go back to your pathetic academy and leave us be." Scarlett answered almost exactly like her mother would. "We have come to collect your souls, and we shall do so." The meister roared as he gripped his weapon tightly. "I said leave us be, I am not a fairly violent woman, for if I was your neck would be broken by now." Scarlett exclaimed loudly as she stepped towards the still confident meister. "I am here to collect your soul." The meister exclaimed as he tried to jolt forwards and cut Scarlett, but Scarlett was too quick for him and she had him against the wall in a matter of seconds. Her grip around his neck grew tight, and when Medusa saw this, she gave a wicked grin. "What fools mother, these meisters certainly aren't what they used to be. From what you told me, I imagined them much stronger." Scarlett said as she let her grip tighten around the boy's neck even more. "Yes, the DWMA no longer raises great meisters it seems. Go ahead and ki…" Medusa was then cut off by the sight of a second team descending upon them. This was their plan the whole time, while Medusa and Scarlett were distracted by the first team the second team would swoop in and catch them both by surprise. "Scarlett, watch out!" Medusa said as she raised herself from her seat. But it was too late; Scarlett hadn't noticed the second team in time. "Your time has come, your souls are mine!" Exclaimed the second meister as she raised her blade to cut down into Scarlett. "No…" Medusa barely whispered as she saw her daughter's body disappear from beneath the meister's feet and become only a floating orb. Rage over came her in that instant. Her daughter was the only thing she could truly relate to, her daughter never went against her and reminded her so much of herself that sometimes it seemed that she was staring down at her own reflection when she looked at Scarlett. Medusa then instantly twisted her arms and released the snakes that were tattooed on her skin. The meister's stood no chance and ran out of the dark alley way. All that was left was the floating orb. Medusa's mouth quivered and she could feel her eyes beginning to swell with tears as she grasped her daughter's soul within her palms. "Mama's gonna take care of you, I promise you, you will return to me." Medusa said as she walked off with Scarlett's soul within her hands.

They all peered down at the small child before, for they were at complete and total loss at what to do. The child could be no more than 4 or 5 at the most. Medusa had succeeded in her plan to force out the soul of the child and substitute it with her own daughter's, but in the struggle when the meisters were fighting her, it came down to either the child dies, an she keeps it, or the child lives and she leaves it. She knew the soft hearted staff wouldn't be able to kill such a small and defenseless creature, but she also knew that child would have an almost infinite list of disadvantages. Her daughter's soul now resided in the small 4 year old child, but she did not know how this would turn out. For the child she stole away was a weapon in training, and her daughter was a witch. Medusa now realized that her daughter could become an actual weapon, due to the fact that the child she collected possessed the property. But Medusa didn't care, for she loved her daughter, or possessed a feeling in close comparison to that of love for her daughter. She didn't know what would happen to her darling girl, but she knew that she would always be watching her. The child was going to stay at the academy, that at least, was known for sure.

"We are sorry lord death, we retrieved the child, but the witch had already exchanged the souls. What do we do with it?" The tall meister said as he offered up the small child so that lord death could examine her. "Does she show any signs of being a witch or recollection of who she was?" Lord Death asked as he carefully eyed the sleeping child. "The only thing noted was that her hair has changed to blonde and has grown thicker and longer. Her eye color has changed as well, the family said it was a dark brown, but when I looked closely at her, I found it to be violet tint instead of brown." The meister said as he hung his head low in shame. "Will the family that she belonged to take her back?" Lord Death asked as he eyed the child before him once again. "They will, but they will be quite reluctant sir."

"Yes, well there is nothing we can do now. We will simply have to keep our eyes on her."

"Yes sir."

Prologue Ends

Scarlett's first day at DWMA. From her point of view:

For all my life I have always had the feeling that I was different in some way. I was always excluded from everything the other children did. Even the man and woman that looked after me treated me strangely and quite different from how they would treat their other children. I knew they weren't my real mother and father, I knew that form the start, but at the same time I never had anything more than a vague image of who I thought my real mother was. I as well acted fairly different from how the other children of my age acted. I also looked quite different from the other children. I was always taller, stronger, and smarter than them. When I was 7 I went to train as a weapon for the academy. I was easily the youngest one there, but I did not act the youngest by far. I was tall too, so that gave me some age too, but not much. I was still the youngest looking, but my skills were at least more refined than all of the children my age. I scanned the crowds, looking everyone over. Everyone was finding their partner, and no matter how hard I tried, no one would pick me because I was so young, and no meister would want a weapon like me. But it made me feel a little bit better that even the most practical freaks were finding partners.

Tears were streaming down her face as she walked the lonesome halls. She was the only weapon without a meister. She had been the odd one out for so long , she had been counted out for so long, that she didn't know the difference from being the same and different. She had thought that when she came to the academy somehow it would change, but now she saw that it didn't. She was still the one being counted out, still the one that was looked down upon, and still the girl who was ridiculed for simply being something out of her control. "I don't need any of them. I'll just do what I've always done; I'll just work with myself. It is much easier to work with myself than with other people. I don't need any of them, and I'll show them too." She muttered to herself as she walked down the hall. The tears then began to pour down her face even harder. "Why are you crying little one?" Lord Death asked as he bent down and looked into her tear stained face. "I am fine, Lord Death. But I have no partner." Scarlett answered as she wiped away the tears and tried to sound collected. "No partner huh, well I guess we'll just have to fix that then." Lord Death said as he extended his hand to the small girl. Scarlett took his hand and they began to walk down the hall together. For once in Scarlett's life, she felt as if she was not alone, or strange in anyway.

"Lord Death, do you really think it was a good idea to pair her with him?" The teacher said as he took a sip of tea. "She has trained under me for 5 years now. She is the best disciplined student we have here, I made sure of that. Stein is our best meister, but he lacks discipline and he has a sense of darkness about him. Scarlett is well disciplined and is both alike to him, and very different from him. She has the soul of a witch inside her, yet she has no sense of darkness about her. This partnership will do Stein good, I know it." Lord Death answered as he sat down to the small table within his room. "Yes, I agree, Stein needs a good punishment for what he did to spirit." The teacher commented. "This is not a punishment. Scarlett is as good a weapon as any other weapon here, maybe even better. I paired them together because Stein needs a partner to understand, and change him. She is both like him in her dark nature, and I am hoping that her light and happy demeanor will help him maintain a sense of sanity. But still, we much watch over them both, this may go bad fast." Lord Death answered.

_Stein's thoughts:_

'_Shit, why'd I have to be paired with her? I know I shouldn't have done experiments on Spirit, but seriously, this little brat won't get me anywhere. She's smart, I'll give her that, but still she is probably the youngest one here, and even though she trained with death her skills are probably not all that refined, and I have to start fresh. What the hell was Lord Death thinking when he paired her with me? Goddamnit, how could he expect me to work with her?'_ Stein then looked down at his new partner that sat beside him, taking notes. He remembered when she was the talk of the town. Everyone was talking about how she was truly an evil witch, her soul had been exchanged, or something in the like. Stein just stared at her, dumbfounded, how could anyone in their right mind believe she was evil. She was upbeat and perky, and well somehow care free. Honestly it would be better if she was somewhat evil, at least he would have a partner that he could actually get along with, but instead she was amazingly upbeat and accurately opposite to him. She did look somewhat like a witch though. It was mainly because she had a violet eye color and tattoos of thorns on her wrist, but from what he had seen of her in the past, she was just alike to any other weapon. She scribbled away on her paper, her handwriting barely legible. Stein truly didn't know what to think of his new partner. For though Spirit seemed to be only and idiot, at least he was not a child. Stein then glanced over to the opposite of the room and saw Spirit. Spirit started making faces; for he was taking pleasure in the punishment Stein had been dealt. Kami saw this and without even looking up from her notes gave Spirit a hard hit in the side, knocking him to the floor. "Damn." Scarlett swore to herself. Stein instantly looked back down at his partner. Her pencils led had broken off and she was digging in her book sack for another one. Stein without even thinking picked up the pencil to the right of his blank paper and offered it to her. Noticing this, a surprised look came over Scarlett's face as she accepted the pencil and whispered, "Thank you." She then went right back to writing down notes. Stein continued to study his new partner. She didn't look tough, and she didn't look like the kind to be an agile or cunning weapon. She didn't look like much of anything. The Clock then sprang its hammer and the class arose, for that was the signal for lunch to begin.

Scarlett had her things packed up and ready to go in only seconds, but Stein seemed to wait till the classroom was almost empty to finally be ready to shuffle through the halls towards the cafeteria. As he stood up from his seat and slung his book sack over his shoulder, he said, "Ya know, you don't need to wait for me, you can go on ahead." Shot her a glance from over his shoulder as he said this. They made their way down the stair and into the hallway soon enough. Scarlett stuck close to Stein as they made their way down the crowded hallway. Everyone was shuffling and bumping against one another, and Scarlett was at a big disadvantage. She was tall for her age, quite tall, but still she was in the same classes with those who were in their late teens, so still many of them towered over her, Stein especially. Oh how Scarlett hated being in such close quarters with so many people. She just wanted to scream and push them all out of her way, but it was not so bad. Stein towered over nearly everyone and so as he made his way down the hall people tended to move out of his way, so Scarlett took advantage of the and stood almost exactly behind him. She could hear those around her snicker, for they found it quite comical that one such as her would be paired with a partner so intimidating.

**Scarlett's Thoughts:**

** 'He was not talkative, but neither was I so I wasn't hurt that from the time we have been partners, we haven't said more than 10 words to each other. He was nice, I suppose. But he did not at all have a friendly demeanor. I wasn't afraid of him, well I was a bit afraid of him, but I was afraid of everybody at this school, so my fear meant nothing. He had scars on his body, and wanted to know what happened, but I knew it was not polite to ask such things, so I kept my mouth shut. I walked closely behind him, for he was the only one that I really knew, and I didn't want to get lost. I kind of wished that we could just bypass lunch, because well, I was entirely too excited and afraid to be able to enjoy any sort of meal and just to sit in the cafeteria and watch my partner eat didn't really seem to justify how hard it was getting there. I began to look to my left and my right. To my right stood a man with red hair and a woman with blond hair. They seemed to be quite close to each other, I then began to examine the man closely. I instantly realized who he was, I saw him when we all were gathered in Lord Death's room. I then recognized that blond woman as well. All three of them were there and apparently the red haired man, wanted to switch partners. Lord Death then introduced me and told them that I would be Stein's new partner. I could see the look of disappointment and surprise rush over Stein's face as he looked me over. I also saw the look of amusement on the red haired man's face as well. I heard him whisper to the blond as they left the room, "Ha, that's what he deserves, a punishment like that." I was a punishment not a partner, I was the reason Stein was facing so much ridicule, and I felt a bit sorry, but I was what I was, and I could only be what I am, so I am just going to be the best I could. I was not going to be a punishment, I was not going to go back to what my family thought I was, just a punishment inflicted on them, even though they were undeserving. I am not going to be his punishment, I am going to be his partner, and I am going to be what I want to be.' **Scarlett was then decided on what she was going to be. She started to walk faster and was then beside Stein, instead of in his follow. Soon they were all in the cafeteria. The tables were set up in a couple of separate rows and in each sat a group of people. Stein then went to the table that was the least populated and sat down. He then pulled out an apple from his back sack and began to eat it. _'Goddamnit, she follows me like a lost dog. I wonder if I will ever get any time to myself while she is partnered with me.' _ Scarlett then pulled out her notes from her book sack. "I noticed you weren't taking any notes during class, do you want to copy mine. The professor said we'll need them to study." Scarlett said as she offered her notes to Stein. Stein examined the notes. They seemed strangely neat and proper, for he had thought those notes would be barely legible. He knew he needed those notes, but he also didn't want to take them from her, for then he would be slightly in debt to her. "No, keep them." He answered before he took another bite of his apple. **'I know he is going to need those notes. The test here are hard, extremely hard, and I didn't see him write down a single word. Why won't he just take the notes?'** Scarlett then put the notes back into her bag and pulled out a book from her bag. The whole rest of the day was spent in silence and snickers.


	2. Chapter 2

Hi I have postedScarlett rolled over in bed and murmered when the clock went off. She uncovered herself and and took the clock in hand to see what time it was. She looked down at the clock and examined the number the hour hand was on. It was 7:00 in the morning, and when Scarlett realized this she let out a loud, "Shit!" and then covered her mouth, for she then noticed the small reflection of Stein in the corner of the clock. Scarlett turned her head to face Stein. He was standing calmly in the doorway, his arms crossed. So this was the way they were going to start their first, full day of partnership. Scarlett hated the way that the place was organized. It was in complete disarray, nothing seemed to be organized in any way. Things were simply randomly placed throughout the house. Scarlett then zoomed out of the room and headed straight towards the bathroom. She splashed some water on her face and ran out of the bathroom and came back into her room. Stein was still standing in the doorway, for he seemed mildly amused by the fact that his partner was rushing around the house in such a manor. "What the hell are you running around the house for?" He asked as he lit a cigarette. Scarlett then shoved everything that resided on her desk into her book sack and answered in a frantic manor, "It's 7:00 in the morning, I get up at 4:00 in the morning everyday to train, I'm already late for lessons." She then rushed over to her black case which contained all her belongings and ripped it open and searched through it for clothes. "What lessons, what training?" Stein asked as he brought the cigarette away from his mouth and turned to face Scarlett as she ran out of the door again. "The training that…Lord…Death gives me." Scarlett said as she reentered the room and realized that she was now partnered with Stein and not training under Lord Death. "Yea, well I leave for the academy at 8:00, so try to be ready by then." Stein said as he left the room and began to walk down the hall.

_Alright, if we do this, then that, then we will be finished collecting souls in no time._ Stein thought to himself as he scribbled down his estimations on a small piece of paper. He was sitting in front of his desk in his wheeled chair as usual. "Alright then, we'll collect 99 kishin souls in no time." Stein said to himself as he examined his work. He then smelled a scent that was in close likeness to that of a scent caused by someone cooking. He then wheeled around in his chair and gave the air a sniff. "What the hell is she doing?" Stein then scratched his head. Stein then turned back around to face his desk and began to once again examine his work to make sure the plan would work. He then smelled the air again, it smelled like bacon grease. He turned his head to face the door and asked himself once again, "What the hell is she doing?" Stein got up from his seat and made his way towards the dorr. He twisted the knob and opened it only to find Scarlett with a frying pan held over a burner used for warming chemicals. The counter was covered in a white, powdery substance and beakers were filled with bacon. Another beaker was filled with tea. "Good Morning!" Scarlett exclaimed as she tried to slide the frying pan filled with batter around and give the apparent pancake within it some shape. "Where did you get all of this?" Stein said as he scratched his head and looked over the counter filled with breakfast items. "Well, after I woke up, I got dressed and ran down to the market. It's just down the street, and so I bought some food since I noticed you had, well, none. I am just so thankful that you let me live here and, well are my partner and what not. I wanted to make use breakfast." Scarlett said as she tried to flip the lumpy pancake. Stein was surprised and really didn't kow what to say. He had never been offered such kindness. Stein scratched the back of his head a said, "Thank you, but where did you get the tea, they don't sell tea at the market down there, they only sell coffee." sCarlett then began to blush and said, "Well, I carry tea packets in my pockets, you never know when you'll need some tea." Stein gave a weak smile, for her was trying not to let her know that he found this a bit strange.

They both left at 8:00 a.m. and made their way to the academy. Stein was wearing his normal attire. A stitched up grey and black sweater, grey pants, and large grey boots. Scarlett was wearing a brown lace dress that stretched about five inches below her knees. It had stitched in flower patterns and had buttons going down the middle. It was a long walk, but it was not nessescarily unbearable. When they got to the doors of the academy Stein stopped dead in his tracks, but Scarlett just kept walking, oblivious to Stien's actions. Stein then grabbed her arm right before she entered the building. This caught Scarlett's attention and she turned towards Stein. "We have a separate class for the ending period. Here." Stein said as he handed a piece of paper with a map of the building drawn on it. "You go to a weapons class and I go to a meisters class. The red line is the path you need to follow to get out of the school. I'll wait here for you till you learn how to get how to get back home on your own." Stein said as he entered the school. Scarlett studied the map within her palm. She then looked up only to see that Stein was gone. As she tried to catch up to him she thought to herself what a kind gesture this was. He had drew this little map up to help her, and he didn't even need to. Scarlett wasn't used to having things done for her that were out of kindness instead of need.

Stein made his way towards the mission board where all the missions were posted. A crowd of people stood infront of the board and blocked Stein and Scarlett's path. Stein somehow made his way to the front and Scarlett tagged along behind. Scarlett looked all the tiny chalkboards over, examining the words written on them closely. Stein then reached to the top of the board and pulled down one of the tiny chalkboards. He then reached into his right pocket and pulled out a small string with his initials written on it and wrapped the string around the board. "This is how you claim a mission." He said as he reached back up and put the board back in place. Stein then went out of the crowd and down the hall. Scarlett stayed behind a minute and analyzed the mission board that Stein had claimed as theirs. It read '10 kishin eggs'. Scarlett was a bit amazed that her partner was that confident in her skills. As she turned around and tried to make her way down the hall and to her first class she was faced with Spirit and Kami. He looked down at her as if she were a small little baby that was defenseless. "Hey, don't worry scamp, I am sure Stein will protect you, he is in need of a new test subject." Spirit said as he patted her head and gave her hair a tussle. Kami only gave spirit a disapproving look towards Spirit. Scarlett then walked away, her pride a bit wounded. But her mood was a bit lightened when she heard a hard smack and spirit scream out, "What the hell was that for?"

"Now class, we will beginning our lesson on witches today. Does anyone know how witches are formed, no one, well be better get started on this lesson then." The professor announced as he began to write on the huge chalkboard at the front of the class. "Alright, first we need to know how to dispose of witches. They are not alike to a kishins at all. They are driven by hunger for power, but they are not at all as mindless and brutish as kishins. They, like you, strategize to win the fight, and they may disguise themselves in multiple forms. So let's have a volunteer come up here and help me demonstrate how to handle a witch." The professor said as he scanned over the room. He scanned the room carefully, for he was looking for the perfect victim. He then scanned over the rows of students and caught his gaze on Scarlett. He had never noticed her before, she was small, vulernable, and the perfect victim. She was just a child and he had to know if she was the same mentally. "You, you are going to play the witch," he then scanned over the crowd and found Kami and spirit, "You two, Kami, Spirit, you will show me how you would deal with a witch." Spirit gave a huff and made his way with Kami down to the front of the room. Scarlett then silently got up from her seat and made her way to the center of the room. "Alright, witch, meister, weapon, show me what you would do. Each of you move to the opposite sides of the room, and when I say to start, start the match." Scarlett then said, "But professor, I have no meister." "Well show me what you can do on your own." The professor answered smugly. "Alright then." Scarlett said as she moved to the opposite side of the room. "Ok, Start the match."

Kami ran full speed towards Scarlett. Scarlett merely walked towards her. Kami then took a swing at her with Spirit gripped firmly in her grasp. Scarlett ducked the attack and slid onto the other side of the room and turned to face Kami. Kami then ran towards her and then went with a new approach and jumped over her and landed behind Scarlett, catching her off guard. Scarlett ducked right before Kami's blade caught her. Scarlett then moved backwards and made sure to keep a distance between her and Kami. Scarlett then went on the offensive when she had assured herself that there was enough room to give her the momentum she needed. She then ran full speed towards Kami and made it so that she was going to gut pucnh her. Kami instinctively went on the defensive and held her arms in close quarters to her chest and stomach, but at the same time she widened her stance. Scarlett had anticipated this and so she slid under Kami and turned around. Kami was caught off guard and Scarlet took full advantage of this and so she extended the sharp edges of her weapon form through her arm and delivered a fatal blow from behind. Scarlett gave a little smile as she felt Kami's blood wash over her blades and arm. Kami was knocked to her knees, but the wound was not as great as Scarlett could of made it. Scarlett then retracted her blades from her arm and walked over to Kami. Scarlett then extended her hand to Kami. Kami limply took hold of Scarlett's hand and pulled herself up. "And that class, is not the approach to use on a witch." The professor said as Kami came to her feet and spirit became a human once again. As scarlett once again took her seat, Stein commented, "You did good out there."

Scarlett walked down the hall with the small map in hand. It wasn't that the map wasn't detailed enough, it was simply the fact that Scarlett was horrible with timing and directions. She looked down at the map once again and then scanned the hallway to see if the classroom on the hall. She then gave a sigh to herself and bended her head over in disappointment. Scarlett then felt a hand resting on top of her back, almost as if a pat. "Don't worry kid, I know where the class is." Scarlett then turned her head to face the voice and found that it was Spirit. She was a bit surprised, but happy that he had offered help. "Follow me." He said as he motion for her to follow him. As they made their way down the long hall Spirit commented, "Yep, the school's anatomy can be quite confusing at times." Scarlett merely nodded and agreed, "I suppose so." Spirit began to scratch his head and said in a bit of a embarrassed voice, "Today in class, those moves you had, I've never seen such a technique. I was wondering where you learned them." Scarlett turned to look at Spirit and said, "Well I trained under Lord Death, and therefore I never had a meister, so I just learned how to compensate."

"Well, I think you'll be a great team. I never knew Stein could ever have such a perfect partner." Before long Spirit and Scarlett were standing in front of the classroom. Scarlett entered after Spirit had already come in and taken his seat. "And who might you be?" The slim woman asked. The professor was a slim woman with grey hair, many wrinkles settled on her face and pruned lips that were covered in the reddest of lip sticks. "I am Scarlett Darcy." The professor then went over to her desk and looked at the paper with many names written on htem. "Ah, Darcy, the new girl. Well where shall I put you." The woman commented as she scanned over the seats. All the seats were taken, but one. The one right next to Spirit. The old woman then pointed to that seat and said, "You will now sit there." Scarlett gave a sigh on the inside as she walked up the stairs and to the third row seat next to Spirit. She knew that he was probably equally disappointed with his seat mate, so there was no need to voice her opinion about the person she had to sit next to.

The bell rang and the class was over. Everyone got up and out of their seats and made their way towards the door. Scarlett then began to put all of her items in her grey book sack. Spirit stood up from her seat and looked down at the blond haired girl before him. She then looked up at him, noticing that he was standing over her. "Am I blocking your way, sorry." She said as she packed up the last of her things and stood up with her book sack slung over her back. "No, it's just; I don't know. Do you need some help getting out of here?" Spirit asked nonchalantly. "Thank you." Scarlett answered as she went down the steps.

The both of them went down the hall in silence. Scarlett looked at everything they passed closely, making sure to take not of it so that she knew her way around the school. Scarlett and Spirit then made it to the doors and finally exited through the doors. As Scarlett left the school she looked to her right and saw Stein leaning against the wall and taking a deep drag from his cigarette. He was waiting for her like he said. He then turned his head and gave Spirit and and Scarlett a quick look and then he went back to smoking his cigarette. "I helped her find her way through the school. I made sure she didn't get lost." Spirit said as he looked at the indifferent Stien. "Thanks." He mumbled with his cigarette still between his lips. He then picked up his book sack that laid by his feet and went down the steps of the school. Scarlett was quick to follow and quickly waved goodbye and said thank you. "Who would of known that Stein would actually be able to find a partner that was practically made for him, lucky bastard." Spirit commented to the now present Kami.


End file.
